Many were surprised by FOX's decision not to grant fall breakout hit 'Sleepy Hollow' an additional 8 episodes beyond the first 13, instead keeping quality higher with a smaller order. The same was to prove true of season 2, though new reports suggest that 'Sleepy Hollow''s second run could see as many as 15-18 episodes, while the new season also added 'West Wing' star Timothy Busfield as founding father Benjamin Franklin.

As initially reported by Vulture and later confirmed with Entertainment Weekly, it seems 'Sleepy Hollow' will air at least 15 episodes in its second season, without forcing itself into the 23-episode model that frequently strains even fully staffed writing rooms. Says FOX Chairman Kevin Reilly of the decisions that led to ordering only 13 in the first season, but looking beyond in the second:

This spring, when … I desperately could use 'Sleepy Hollow' on the air, I’ve thought, ‘Oh, it would have been nice to have it around’. But it was the right thing to do for that show. They were doing $4 million little mini-movies every week on a crazy schedule. We missed airdates, so we had more preemptions. [And] the audience wants to watch 13 episodes in a row. They don’t want to watch two on, and then one off, and then three on, and then two off.

We’re in series production now. We’ve got our writers' staff up and running. We’ll start shooting in May. I’m going to make somewhere between about 15 or more, maybe a maximum of 18 next year. Those will air all in a row. There will be no preemptions [except maybe] one over the World Series or a holiday.

Elsewhere, EW confirmed that Busfield would play Benjamin Franklin with Ichabod (Tom Mison) serving as an apprentice of sorts in the past, similar to his interactions with George Washington in the first season. Says executive producer Mark Goffman, "I’ve read several biographies of Franklin, and we’re teeing off on some of his precociousness and eccentricities.”